and the rain poured
by tinhead
Summary: post OotP - a man stands alone in the rain, and remembers what he used to have.


**Disclaimer: JK IS GOD OF HARRY POTTER AND OWNS ALL!**

Well, except for Ella, cos she's an OC, and my plot is my plot. Yargh.

~*~*~*~

While Harry Potter slumped miserably in the back of the Dursley's car, a lone figure stood on a small hill, on the outskirts of Hogsmeade.

The cold, harsh wind whipped the tattered robes around his legs, and he shivered, huddling into the thin cloth, trying to keep warm.

As he gazed over the windswept plain below him, he felt an icy drop land on his nose.  Gray storm clouds were gathered over head, and the thunder rumbled.  

The rain drops fell, slowly and softly at first – gentle.  Then harder and harder, until they were pouring down, and the man could not hear or see anything beyond the hill.

The rain soaked through his robes, and the wind blew hard, chilling him to the core.

He stood, staring into the rain.   

And thought of the past.  

He had kept his promise.  Had anyone else kept theirs?

**~*~ FLASHBACK ~*~ 17 years in the past ~*~**

Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Ella Lupin and Lily Evans stood, arms encircled in what would be their last time together on Platform 9 ¾.

James spoke up "Man, I'm gonna miss this so much!"

The boys nodded silently – Lily and Ella were crying. 

"Hogwarts were the best years of my life" Remus said "Thankyou all so much – for being there for me.  It would've been horrible if – "

"We know Moony, you don't have to thank us."

Remus smiled.

"Isn't it weird though – we've spent 7 years being stuck with eachother, and now we might never be all together again. How can we be leaving it behind guys?  How are we going to do this?" James said.

They stood in silence for a few moments.  They didn't want to leave.  They didn't want to go out and try and make it on their own.  Hogwarts was more than a school.  It was a _home_.  And they were leaving.

But apparently, as always, Sirius couldn't stand the moroseness of the situation any longer.  

"I know!  I know!"  he squealed

Ella rolled her eyes.  "Paddy, you squeal like a _girl_."

"Hey!"

"I'm sorry!  I take that back – a three-year-old girl."

"Thank – HEY! You – "

Peter cut in, " what was it you wanted to tell us?"

Sirius looked confused. "What? Oh yeah, that's right.  As I was _saying_ – " he threw a dirty look at Ella, who smiled innocently back at him.  

"I think, just in case we don't keep in touch, we should meet at GodAwful Hill, in 17 years from now"  he looked rather pleased with himself.

"Er – right.  Good idea Paddy."  James coughed nervously.

"What?!" Sirius exclaimed. "I think it's a wonderful idea!  I mean, off course it is, seeing as it came from me and I'm so damn gorgeous, lovable, cute, adorable, irresistible, han – "

"Yes, Padfoot."  Lily cut in.  "Actually, I think it's not such a bad idea.  I mean, what if something happened and we fall out of touch?"

The others (minus a manically grinning Sirius) looked thoughtful.

James took charge. "Okay, then.  17 years from now we meet at GodAwful Hill, no matter what – unless you're dead which I really doubt would be the case.  I mean seri –" Sirius looked up hopefully, but James quickly changed tactics "– ah, _really_, who's going to be dead by then?  We'll only be 30 something!  Marauders and honorary members of marauders, do you promise?"  he put his hand in the middle of the circle.

"I promise"

"I promise"

"I promise"

"I promise"

"I promise"

"I promise"

They lifted their hands into the air and shouted "MARAUDERS!" 

The station guard, who was the only one left besides them on the now deserted platform, shuffle away nervously.

Lily smiled at him "Don't worry – it was Sirius' idea."

The station guard nodded in understanding, before continuing on his way.

"Which reminds me." Ella said "Why is it 17? Why not 15, or 20, or something normal?"

Sirius looked at her in shock. "Normal? Pfft! The reason it's 17 is because 17 multiplied by 2 is 34.  And 34 plus 2 divided by 6 makes 6.  6 plus 2 equals 8, and if you put a one in front of the 8, it makes 18 – which is how old we are now. DUH!" he said

There was complete and utter silence as the group tried to make sense of Sirius' twisted logic.

"REMUS AND ELLA LUPIN!  WE ARE NOT GOING TO WAIT AROUND FOR YOU ALL DAY!"

"Oh shit." The aforementioned teenagers said, for a very angry Mrs Lupin had just stormed through the barrier.

"Ah – hi mum!" Remus said, in a falsely bright voice.

She huffed "Don't you 'hi mum' me young man!  I understand that this is your last time, but your father and I have been waiting for 45 minutes! And that goes for you too, young lady!" she screeched.

"Sorry, mum"  Ella mumbled "we'll be out in 2 minutes."

"You'd better be!" she stormed back off through the barrier.

They said their goodbyes sadly, with Ella and Lily close to tears.  Well, that's not entirely true – the whole group was close to tears, but no way were the boys going to cry.

"I'll miss us all together"  James said

"Yeah, me too." Said Remus

"See you soon?"

"Of course!  What do you expect?!"

They crossed the barrier as one group, for the last time.

With one quick last hug, they split up, and turned to go to their respective families.

Sirius turned back and yelled "Don't forget the promise."

Shouts of "we won't!" and "never!" answered him, and Sirius grinned, and waltzed after James towards the Potter car.

Remus put his arm around his sniffling sister's shoulders.  "Come on, El.  Lets get home."

**~*~ END FLASHBACK~*~**

The man smiled at the memory through his tears, and scuffed the bare ground with his shoe.  Sirius had named it GodAwful Hill.  Because it was completely barren, and somehow managed to have the worst weather, even when the sun was shining.

He sat down in the mud, and sighed, placing his head in his hands.  This was all Voldemort's fault.  He'd murdered Lily and James, he'd ordered Ella to be killed, it was his fault Sirius fell through that veil.  He choked on a sob.  Sirius – he'd lost him once, now he'd lost him again.  But it was forever this time.  

He was alone, now, because the old Peter, the marauder, was gone too.  

A surge of hatred rushed through him.  It was all Voldemort. He killed all those people, he took Peter and turned him into a monster, he killed Harry's parents, leaving him alone in the world.  _He_ was alone in the world.  He dragged himself to his feet.

"I HATE YOU VOLDEMORT!" he screamed into the pouring rain.  

He picked up a rock and threw it as hard as he could.

Thunder crashed, and he screamed and screamed.  He was alone.  Alone in this god damn world.

But the rain was too loud.  No one could hear him.

Tears fell down his cheeks as his raised his eyes to the stormy clouds.  They were dead, all of them.  Or as good as dead.

But he had kept his promise.  He was here.  Was there a point though, if no one else was?

He wiped his tears off his face with the sleeve of his already drenched robes, and uttered a cleaning charm.  

Then he bowed his head, and stumbled down the slope.  

He gave one last look at the hill behind him, and then walked off into the rain, until he could be seen no more.

Back at the hill, the rain wiped away his footprints, leaving no trace of his coming. 

His angry, lonely, heart-broken tears streamed around the bottom, lost in the gushing water.

And the rain poured.

~*~*~

If anyone hasn't guessed by now, that was Remus

Reviews would be fantastical! :D

~tinwen


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